Beverage shops in Taipei are from Dec. 1 to restrict the use of single-use plastic cups, making the capital the first city in the nation to respond to international calls to reduce plastic waste, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement on Saturday.
The agency said that 2,206 beverage stores in Taipei would stop using disposable plastic cups, including those made from widely used bioplastic polylactic acid.
The new measure should lead to a reduction of more than 76 million single-use plastic cups, or 912 tonnes of plastic waste, per year, the agency said.
Photo: Wei Chin-yun, Taipei Times
The new restriction had won approval of the majority of Taipei’s beverage businesses, it said, adding that the policy is in accordance with the central government’s plastic reduction policies, it said.
The ban is to apply to chain and non-chain beverage shops, which would be given a buffer period until December to use their remaining inventories of plastic cups, evaluate alternative cup materials, increase discounts for people who bring their own cups and consider a reusable cup loan service.
The implementation of the restriction is set to make Taipei the first municipality in Taiwan to respond to the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) policy to reduce the use of plastic cups nationwide by 2024.
The restriction on plastic cups is partly in response to a UN Environment Assembly-led international call to end plastic pollution, the EPA said, adding that the assembly in March convened in Nairobi, where it drafted a plan to develop “an international legally binding agreement” by 2024.
The cup restriction follows an EPA policy that last month took effect nationwide, mandating a discount of at least NT$5 to people who bring their own cup to purchase a beverage.
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